Lesson of Death
by MyCookieJar
Summary: Trapped in their school by an unexplainable infection, a bunch of teenagers must finally come to learn the most valuable lesson in life- a lesson of death.
1. Chapter 1

"Are they gone…?"

It had become an utterance of sheer fear than just a mere simple question. The whisper sent chills down my spine, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I said nothing, either from the fear that if I replied there was nothing there, my eyes would deceive me and immediately my answer would change; Or if I really wanted to believe that there was nothing there, and everything that happened in the previous hours was just a hellish nightmare. Ofcourse, I would be wrong. But in any case, I continued to stare out upon the ghostly quiet sight, as the ticking of the clock rang louder with each second in my ears.

"Erin?"

The final ticking of the clock was the longest, loudest second of my life. **CRASH.**

To tell you the truth, I never really liked school. And these last few months, were sure to be the best ever. Finally, after 13 years, I would be free of this place, for good. No more essays, teachers, nagging, coursework, exams, students, assembly's, lectures, forms, non-uniform days, frees, NOTHING. It would all be over, little did I know that soon, it literally would be over.

**WAKE.**

The alarm clock's ringing erupted throughout my darkened room. Immediately, my eyes shot open, _'another day'_ I told myself. As soon as I knew it, I'd eaten breakfast, washed my hair and dressed for school. Walking out to join the frosty cold weather, I scraped along miserably, constantly shrugging my bag over my shoulder to stop it from slipping, as it usually chooses to do so. I looked down at my watch.

**8:25 AM.**

Now I was officially running late, but today, the time did not bother me. So what if Cass and Connie decided to walk on without me? It's not the end of the world…

The oncoming traffic sped passed me, encouraging the harsh wind to scrape past my pale face. The lingering eyes of the drivers past me, their blank, unfazed expressions staring as I walked by. It was always a little unnerving to me, I mean, I'm just walking to school. It was quiet this morning, I seemed to be the only student about. Mind you, there had been a sickness epidemic for the past 2 days, something about the flu. Our headmistress, Mrs Robinson, was in two minds whether to close the school for the rest of the week. Legally, if more than half the school is away, school should be cancelled. But you never know with teachers. I gazed down at my watch again.

**8:29 AM.**

I spotted Cass and Connie coming out of Cass's house, their looks met mine, and they waited as I crossed the road.

"Run, Erin," Cass shouted to me.

I rolled my eyes as I BRISK WALKED over to them.

"I'm not going to run am I?" I replied, a mild bitter tone in my voice.

Joy. Now I got to listen to Cass re-accounting her night of text messaging with many 'hot' guys. When it comes to this, and the fact that Cass isn't getting any, it's her equivalent of sex. Occasionally Connie gave a grunt of understanding, to which Cass must either ignore or is dumb enough to believe, because she still carried on. I don't even bother to talk, none of it would be appreciated anyway, since it never has done these mornings.

At last, we joined our group by the gates at school. We were a pretty large group when all together, consisting of myself, my best friend Gwen, then Charlie, Jo, Cass, Connie, Leigh, Rainey, Rina, Lisa, Carrie, Esmé and Sian.

Again, I checked my watch. This is what I'd usually be doing throughout the school day, right up until I got home. Checking the time here was an automatic thing, but it made the day go slower. And having frees + checking the time = an extra slower day. This is probably how I've come to being practically a zombie at school. I have the odd laugh with my friends, we'd talk about the same thing every free, and I keep my head down in lessons, making my way from one class to the next, and eventually ending up back at our hangout, the Pathways Centre, for a dragged out, long free.

"And so her and her boyfriend were doing anal, and she apparently ended up shitting all over him. Then, her parents almost found them, but they blamed it on the cat. So they had the cat put down!" Said Leigh.

"That's so gross- but so funny…" Gwen replied.

"How's your wing mirror?" Carrie asked Esmé.

"Don't even go there, seriously Carrie, don't go there." Esmé warned her, with a grunt.

OK, now it's the appropriate time for an awkward silence.

"I was so hoping school would be cancelled today," Jo began, changing the subject.

"Same. But they won't cancel it, it was like this last year, and they didn't cancel it. Anyway, I have a lot of work to do so I guess it's best." Rainey replied, the swot inside her taking over. "Your hair looks cool," She complimented me.

"Oh… Thanks…" I replied, taken aback by her sudden subject change.

"Apparently this sickness thing is getting worse, some kids have even had to go into hospital it's so bad," Charlie said.

"What actually is it?" I asked.

"They're saying it's the flu," Leigh cut in, she always has to be the one who's right. "First, you get all feverish, then sweaty, then coughing- and sometimes blood, then it starts affecting your nervous system- so you get all twitchy and your pupils dilate and stuff."

"Nice," I added.

"Yeah it's great ain't it?" Leigh replied.

"Can you imagine you're having sex with this guy and all of a sudden start twitching? He'd be like 'Yo bitch! What you doing?'" Came an outburst from Cass.

A few of us laughed aloud from the strange statement.

"OK, that's not weird," Gwen said sarcastically.

"Cass, where the hell do you come up with these things?" Rina asked.

Cass just kept laughing, ignoring the question. I rolled my eyes. It worries me where she get's these things from, she thinks about things way too much. Again, I checked down at my watch.

**8:44 AM.**

My friends continued to talk about random, pointless things. The teenagers walking past us caught my eye, and one in particular. She seemed to have a hard time walking, like it was all too much effort. Her face was extremely pale and sickly looking, she did not look well at all. Then came the coughs. One after the other, getting louder and more hoarse sounding than the last.

"Great. Thanks for infecting us." Esmé said, a little bitchily.

"Yeah, God," Leigh added sarcastically.

"Would you like us to make you a sign Esmé?" Rainey asked.

Esmé ignored them, with a smirk on her face.

As the bell went for form, we all separated into smaller groups and descended off down the paths to our form rooms. Hurdles of students trudged past us, pushing, speeding and shouting as much as they could. This school is so big, that when there's a sickness epidemic, and supposedly more than half the school are away, it's as if nothing has changed.

The air had a musky smell. You know how it smells after it's rained? Well, a little like that- but grimier. Walking to form, I couldn't shake the feeling of suspense away from me. Everyone else was talking normal as usual- and there was that girl again, walking into the English block, right where my form room was. Great. Just like Esmé said.

"Are you alright Erin? You seem a little… Are you having an 'off' day?" Rainey asked, with a genuine concerned look.

"I'm peachy." I said, trying to get her off my back.

"Oh. Is it that bad?" She asked, a snide grin on her face.

"No. I'm fine. Just peachy." I repeated. I felt bad being a little bitter today, but I wasn't in the best of moods. Usually, I could fake feeling happy and convince everyone I was OK. Today though, is not one of those days.

"What do you think are the chances of Ms. Taylor being away today?" Charlie asked me optimistically.

"Very slim. You know she's never away," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, unfortunately." She added.

We reached the form room, and sat at our table. The few faces in the room were bare, hardly anyone was in.

"Where is everyone?" Leigh asked, weary.

"You'd think they'd have closed the school by now," Rainey added.

"Oh no. They wouldn't do that- come on Rainey, surely you know that?" I asked snidely.

I slumped my bag on the desk a little to hard.

"So Connie, how was Cass's exciting rant this morning?" Leigh asked Connie.

"Oh god. She is doing my head in. She's so full of herself lately, it's unbearable- and me and Erin are the ones who have to listen to every account, with all the details. I honestly couldn't care less." She replied angrily.

"Maybe she's just happy for the attention?" Jo contemplated, trying to lighten the topic.

"Well for the first week or so, yeah, now it's getting annoying." I replied.

"She is going on about it a lot actually," Rainey agreed.

"Yeah like your face…!" Leigh randomly added.

We rolled our eyes.

"Seriously, Leigh, when are you gonna come up with a new insult?" I asked.

"OK, how about, 'Erin is GAY'?" She joked. I didn't laugh.

"Correction, that one was used by you before the 'like your face' one. Tut- tut

Leigh, that's so bad…" I mocked her.

"Shut your face betch!" She said, adding a forester tone.

Suddenly, there was a piercing scream, it sounded hollow. Our attention snapped to outside. The unwell girl from earlier, had collapsed on the floor and a crowd began to ascend around her.

"What the hell…" I said to myself.

"Ain't that the sick girl Esmé insulted earlier?" Connie asked.

"Yeah I think it is," Rainey replied, staring out the window.

"That's really bad. They should have closed the school yesterday-" Connie continued.

"I know- it's just gonna get worse otherwise, what happened? Did anyone see?" Jo added, agreeing a little too early.

"Collapsed, maybe? Unless someone pushed her over," I said with a little unsure chuckle, sometimes my humor can be a little twisted…

"You're nice aren't you Erin?" Connie said sarcastically.

Seeing Connie's look, I got a little startled and escaped from her gaze quickly.

"Is there a member of staff over there?" Mrs Young, our form tutor asked.

Rainey stretched to look over Jo.

"I can't see any at the moment," She said, unsure.

"No wait, there's Mr Powell. He's going over to her now," Leigh said, the hint of satisfaction in her voice that she spotted Powell before anyone else obvious to me, but not to anyone else, who seemed unfazed.

"I'll go over aswell. If I'm not back when the bell has gone, just go." Mrs Young said, heading out the door.

Sitting back down, I sighed of boredom. I found myself looking at the crowd out of the corner of my eye, but still trying to distract myself.

"It's all kicking off now ain't it?" Leigh asked.

"Still, ask yourself if they'll shut school?" Connie reminded her.

Connie's remark still lingering in my mind, I watched as Mrs Young and Mr Powell hauled up the girl and slowly pulled her from the crowd. The sight of her disturbed me more than I wanted it to.


	2. Chapter 2

Gwen and I met after second lesson, and walked out of school to the leisure centre. Still, I could not shake the image of the girl being hauled away by the teachers, with her feet dragging across the floor. I checked my watch.

**10:56 AM.**

"You know that girl Esmé made fun of this morning?" I reminded her.

"Um… Oh yeah, go on," She ushered.

"She collapsed outside on the yard during form,"

"Really? What? What happened?" She asked eagerly.

"I dunno, she let out a really creepy shriek though. The whole thing was kind of creepy, usually I find people falling over pretty funny-"

"Yeah, you do," Gwen interrupted, laughing.

"But," I made my point, "This was disturbing, she looked…" I trailed off.

"…Sick?" Gwen added sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, and we made our way to the vending machines.

"God, I was so pissed this morning when Mum rang the school and found out it was open," She changed the subject.

"Same here, they close it when there's an inkling of snow, but when people are actually on death's bed, they're like: 'Oh it's nothing serious, just a few hospital cases," I ranted.

"I know! Weird." Gwen finished.

Then, there was a yell from outside. Me and Gwen looked at each other, confused.

"Did you hear that or was it just me?" She asked.

I stood there for a moment, listening out for something, when the vending machine dispensed my maltesers with a shuddery clunk. We both jumped.

"Shit!" We said simultaneously, and we started to laugh.

A group of boys came running through the leisure centre, a little hyper.

"Everyone's gone crazy man!" They shouted, and ran out.

"What the fuck!" I exclaimed quickly.

"Everyone?" Gwen repeated, clearly confused about the boy's remark.

Without saying anything, we left the leisure centre to check out what the fuss was all about. At the top of the car park, a fight was taking place, and teachers were in the midst of breaking it up.

"God, it's all drama today," Gwen said, a little excited.

We carried on walking, the sight of the fight engrossing us as we passed. Other students stopped to look from the top of the steps as we walked up them, still not having taken our eyes off it all. Suddenly, a few of the students who seemed to be part of the fight ran up the opposite steps, to which Gwen and I hurried ourselves.

"Shit- what the hell is going on?" Gwen asked, getting worried.

"I'm telling you, it's something seriously FUCKED up…" I replied.

We walked into reception, the music from the hall now audible. Through the doors was the sight of a jam packed hall full of students eating, talking, shouting, laughing, making fools of themselves as per usual.

"Guess we got some gossip for the others atleast," I said, lightening the mood.

Then, as we were about to enter Pathways, a huge bang startled us, and a number of screams erupted from inside the hall, just audible above the thumping beat of the music. Our heads jerked towards the noises, unsure of what was happening, but curious.

"Fuckin' hell man," Gwen said to herself.

"This REALLY doesn't look good Gwen," I added.

The receptionists came out of their office, curious about the noise.

"What on earth is going on in there?" One asked, and she opened the hall doors.

Suddenly, a student attacked her, and along came another, they lunged at her at such a quick speed, and began throwing her around like a rag doll.

"OH my God!" Gwen said, her voice brimming with shock and fear.

"Let's go!" I grabbed her by the arm and we ran into pathways, just as we heard the hall doors swing open again, and this time the screams were bigger and louder.

We slammed the doors behind us, and turned to face our group in pathways, with a couple of other ones, who were staring back at us with weary expressions.

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?" Esmé asked, astounded.

"Didn't you hear it?" Gwen asked, confused.

Everyone looked back at us with puzzled faces, there was no sound in the room, only the screams coming from outside.

"Look for yourself," I said coolly. "Seriously, look." I repeated.

"No, tell me what it is." Esmé demanded.

"For fuck sake Esmé, just take a look will you?" Gwen repeated.

Annoyed, Esmé got up from her chair and peeked through the windows in pathways. People ran past, their faces were covered in sheer terror. Many of them didn't know where to run, whilst some ran out of reception.

"Christ!" Some people inside pathways shouted.

A few others burst through the doors, slamming them behind them.

"What the HELL is going on?" Leigh asked, the panic in her voice now becoming clear.

I thought to myself for a moment, and mumbled to Gwen. She looked back at me, understanding.

"We need to push the tables against the doors, now," I said.

"Well don't just stand there!" Gwen added, frustrated.

People that were sat around the tables stared hesitantly, and few helped to push the tables against the door. I rammed one of the tables against the door with Gwen's help, I was now fuming from everyone else's lack of contribution. Finally, Carrie helped us with the other table, along with Rory and Matt who were sat with the other group.

"Look, I don't know what is exactly going on here, but we have to keep safe. Who knows what the hell else is happening out there," I said wearily.

"Esmé, what did you see?" Connie asked, concerned.

"People… I don't know, just running, they…" She trailed off.

"They were being chased," Gwen finished.

" 'Chased?' By what?" Rina asked.

"People." I replied, avoiding eye contact.

"We came from the leisure centre, and there was this big fight going on by the steps, some people from the fight ran into the hall, and when we came into reception, we heard screams from inside there. The receptionist went in to check it out and she got attacked, then we ran in here," Gwen explained.

"So what do we do now? Wait?" Rainey asked, scared.

"I don't know…" Gwen replied, obviously afraid.

I looked out the window, crossing my arms. Gwen paced about the room, worried. Everyone else sat around, their eyes fixated on anything but outside. The screams from outside were still continuing. I checked my watch.

**11:28 AM.**

"Oh shit!" Carrie exclaimed, looking out the window, placing her hand over her mouth in shock.

"What? What is it?" Rina asked, demanding to know.

"There's Sian!" Carrie said excitedly, pointing at her.

"We have to let her in here!" Esmé said.

Apart from Rina, Carrie and Esmé, no-one responded. It's amazing to see how people can change when disaster strikes. Their true colours come through, I've always gotten a vibe about someone's true colours, and they were the right ones.

"We can't just leave her out there!" Carrie protested.

"And what if those things get in here? What then?" Emma from the other group yelled.

"She's our friend- why shouldn't we help her?" Rina shouted.

"Calm down!" I spoke up, turning from the window, the frustration in my voice was obvious. "We have to think about this logically, it's no good just throwing the doors open and letting everything get in here- and I'm talking about the wrong things…" I let them dwell on my opinion.

"We have to hurry, those things are still out there!" Rainey stupidly reminded us.

"You don't fucking say!" Leigh yelled sarcastically.

"Look, we have to come up with a strategy-" I began.

"Too late. She's already running over here," Esmé informed us.

I looked back out the window where Connie, Cass, Leigh and Rainey jumped up from their seats to also take a look.

"Oh my God, she's gonna let those things in here," I heard the whispers from the other group.

Esmé, Carrie, Rainey and Rina were signalling to Sian to run over to pathways.

"What the hell are you doing? Could you make it more obvious?" Gwen cussed them.

"We're gonna need to move the table nearest the door, quickly- stand by it though, cos' we're gonna have to slam it back," I told everyone calmly.

Sian was now outside the doors of pathways, where we heaved back the heavy table, and pulled open the doors with a thrust, dragged Sian in and slammed the doors shut, and rammed the table back up against it.

"Glad you could make it," Leigh greeted her.

Flustered, Sian regained her posture, and dumped her bag on the tables.

"OK- someone tell me, what the fuck is going on?" She asked.

The next few minutes dragged by. Outside was eerily quiet, and from the noise which could be heard only minutes earlier, it was as if nothing had ever happened. On the floor were papers scattered about, the chairs were pushed over, there was blood across the walls. Yet one question lingered in my mind- how the hell were we so lucky to have been missed by those things?

"Woah," Sian uttered, after a long and thorough explanation from Carrie and Rainey.

"Has anyone tried ringing home?" Gwen asked.

Immediately, everyone got out their mobiles and began jabbing at the numbers.

"I got no answer," Esmé said, tutting.

"Same here," Connie agreed.

"What about trying 999?" Rory suggested with a hint of sarcasm.

Everyone began dialling.

"You do know that we're not gonna be able to get through with all of us ringing it? Jesus Christ…" Leigh reminded everyone.

"I'll do it," Jo volunteered. We all waited, as a tense atmosphere lingered over us.

"It's busy," She slammed her phone shut.

"Great." Cass said, rolling her eyes.

"So what now?" Jo asked, worried.

No-one answered. Everyone slumped against the floor, cradling their knees and resting their head on them. The same question was pondering everyone of us. What do we do now? Wait? Run? The answers were limited. For one thing, those things were still out there- the other, they could be anywhere.

"Where do you think they all are?" Lisa asked quietly to Charlie. She shook her head sadly.

All I knew was that we had to come up with a plan. We could be stuck here for the whole day, maybe even more than that. Who knows how far this thing has spread? Maybe there's no help out there. All we could do now was help ourselves. There was no use on relying on the police or anyone else out there, the fact was that we were in here, those things were out there, and we had to keep safe. I checked my watch.

**11:46 AM.**

Time slowly slipped by. Slower than usual that's for sure. I moved next to Gwen.

"We can't stay in here, we got to think of an escape plan," I proposed.

"I agree, but where would we go? Those things could be lurking around any of these corners, just waiting for us," She suggested.

"Gwen, I think if those things knew we were in here they would have tried to attack us by now. We have to make a break for it," I explained.

"But when?" She asked, keeping quiet. I broke eye contact.

"… I don't know," I said, feeling defeated. Which I hate.

Suddenly a scream split the air. It came from outside. Our attention switched to the noise, and we all crept up to the windows, peeking through the blinds nervously. One of our teachers was running towards the reception.

"Quick! Let him in!" Rina said in a harsh whisper. I hesitated.

Then, the crazy people emerged from behind the corner towards him. He backed away slowly, his knees almost buckled beneath him from the fear. Then, those things set upon him. One of them leapt towards him and grabbed his head, and bashed it backwards into the ground. Everyone let out a gasp of fright. The rest of them also joined in, some of them punched at his knee sockets, others were bending his arms back, while the rest continued to bash his head onto the concrete.

"Oh. My. God." Connie exclaimed. Most of us turned away in disgust, sitting against the wall, hugging our knees and burying our faces. I wanted to stop looking, but I just couldn't. I had to know what they were going to do to him. If I knew, then maybe we could find their weaknesses and make a break for it. Gwen's eyes widened in shock, Esmé, Leigh, Rainey and Rina squinted their eyes, their overall body language clearly disturbed by what they were seeing. One of those things finally gouged his fingers into the teacher's eye sockets as he cried out in unimaginable pain, and a mass of blood poured out from his bashed in head.

"Oh that's sick," Cass pointed out.

We rushed from the windows and hid underneath the tables automatically. I could feel Charlie and Jo's bodies shaking with fear either side of me. I tried to stiffen my body so that they'd stop, for their own benefit. Everyone's breath became quick and heavy. I could hear a few of them sniffing, an obvious attempt to disguise their tears. We sat like that for the next few hours, occasionally changing our position. Some of us fell asleep from the boredom, but I knew it was really to escape this nightmare. You usually want to awaken from a nightmare, but this time, you wanted to sleep it away.


	3. Chapter 3

**2:48 PM.**

I stopped looking at my watch, and decided to come out from underneath the table. I crawled out, and looked behind at the rest of them. The majority of them were asleep, except for a select few who didn't seem to care about my sudden movement, either that or they just wanted to ignore it. I hesitantly approached the windows, and peered through. The remains of the teacher were still there, the others were no longer around- well, no longer around him anyway. I went back to the tables, and kneeled down to face everyone underneath there. Surprisingly, they were now all awake. I knew they were pretending to be asleep, I mean, who could actually genuinely sleep after all this?

"Hey, people, I have an idea of how we can get out of here," I demanded their attention.

"And why would we want to do that?" Connie asked bitterly.

"Believe it or not, sooner or later, those things are gonna sense that we're in here. The blinds are on the outside of the windows, there are only a few tables against the doors and they can be opened from the outside aswell," I explained clearly.

"And where do you suppose we go smart ass?" Leigh asked sourly. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I pointed in the way of the reception.

"Reception," I said confidently.

"Reception? Why there?" Rina asked, in a questionable tone.

"It's literally a couple of steps away, the doors can be locked from the inside, there's the kitchen across from it, and you can't see who's inside because the windows are a one way view," The confidence in my voice didn't falter.

There was no response. I knew I had won them over, it was just a question of someone having the guts to praise my idea.

"We're right next to the kitchen here, why should we have to move to the reception to be able to get to the kitchen?" Connie proceeded to interrogate.

"BECAUSE," I took a breath, "In here, it would take too much time to pull away the tables, get out, get food, come back in and board it all up again. It would be way too risky. If we're in the reception, a few of us could hold the door open as the others get food and all they have to do is run back in and the deed is done. That door automatically locks from the inside, nothing can get in." I explained, regaining my breath.

"So, Miss-know-it-all, how do you propose WE get in?" Cass asked self-righteously. This time, I was a little stumped. I could tell the others were very interested in my solution to Cass's ultimatum.

"OK, so, that could be tricky," I admitted. "Wait- by the main entrance to the reception hall itself- You know, the window where the receptionist can talk to people through- it's a clear view, but we could board it up with stuff- it's always OPEN during school hours. If someone could fit through there and open the door for us, we're in." I finished proudly.

"Fit through that window? It's tiny! Who the hell is gonna fit through there?" Cass yelled.

"Shut up! Do you want to advertise that we're in here?" Jo told her.

There was some hesitance between everyone. I looked at everyone of them, annoyed at their lack of enthusiasm.

"I'll do it," Emily, from the other group said.

"Em-", her boyfriend Kyle tried to reason with her.

"No, I can do it. I'm the tiniest one here, it's only me who can probably fit through there. If it's a chance that we can really be safe, why not?" She justified herself.

"I-I think we should do it," Lisa said hesitantly.

I gave her a nod.

"But what if it goes wrong, Erin?" Connie asked me, emphasizing my name.

"How about we don't think about that…?" Gwen replied for me.

"Great. So we just forget what's going on when we do it? Really encouraging Gwen," Leigh added.

"I don't know, OK? There's no point sugar coating this for everyone, you all seen what happened out there. If something goes wrong-"

"Then we're dead aren't we? Now let's get to it." Jo cut in bluntly.

Most people rolled their eyes at her comment, a few others snorted.

"So. How are we doing this?" Emily asked, changing the dynamic.

She instantly looked at me for answers.

Academically, I never excelled at anything. Group work was always something I never got on with. No-one seemed to care about my opinion in class, and I just stopped trying. In fact, anything to do with school I just shrugged off. Now, everyone wants to hear what I have to say. Strange how things work out, eh?

"Well, I suppose we'll stay here, and check that the coast is clear. We'll all be watching, and we'll hold the doors open slightly. Em, you should approach the window as quickly- but quietly- as possible. Only thing is, someone's gonna have to go out with her to help her in, and when you're in, open the door from the inside and everyone will make a run for it. Oh, and close the window behind you." I finished, regaining my thoughts.

"This better work Erin," Leigh threatened. I shot her a look.

**3:45 PM.**

The atmosphere in pathways was tenser than ever. I could tell that everyone thought I wasn't aware of the dangers of this plan, but ofcourse I was. I was just as scared as they were. Maybe even more, as this was my idea. But it's not as if I conjured up this plan in a matter of seconds, I had thought of different ideas that led to a lack of- well, survival. This one, I was sure, had to be the most logical of all them. My heart beat began to fasten, and it felt like at any moment it would leap from my chest. I tried to understand what this girl could be feeling, I really did. But all I seemed to worry about was safety now, all of our safety. Not that some people in here (in my opinion) deserved to be saved. Hell, if Leigh was any skinnier I'd happily make her do it.

"Ready?" I asked Emily.

"It's gotta be done." She claimed, trying to sound brave.

"Who's gonna go with her?" I asked.

"I will ofcourse," Kyle put himself forward.

"Right." I said, realizing no other person would have a chance to volunteer. Not that anyone wanted to anyway I guess.

"Everyone clear on the plan?" I asked, making sure.

They all shrugged, a part from Gwen who gave me a reassuring smile, loyal as ever.

"So, let's do it." I said, my voice was now strong and calm.

Within a matter of seconds, we pulled the doors open quietly but quickly and peered out to make sure it was still clear.

"Go," I whispered to Emily and Kyle.

Emily and Kyle sped towards the reception window, Kyle gave her a boost up and Emily forced the window up further so she could have some more room getting in. Suddenly, outside, there was movement coming from within the English block.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, then cussed myself for worrying everyone else.

"KYLE! HURRY!" Rachel from the other group yelled.

"Shut the hell up! You're gonna get them killed!" Rina snapped at her.

Kyle noticed the movement in the English block, and as he did, the doors pounded open and a couple of sick people belted for him.

"Oh Christ!" Carrie panicked.

Kyle pushed Emily hard through the reception window, the sick people grew closer, the determination in their speed more fiercer than ever now.

"Come on, Em! Get the door!" He shouted to her.

He pulled down the reception window. Then he made a run for it to the reception door, motioning for us to follow with a wave of his arm.

"Let's go!" I yelled.

We pushed the doors open, and made a run for the reception. Everyone screamed as the sick people were practically at the main entrance.

"Hurry Emily!" Leigh shouted, her voice straining.

Thankfully, the door flew open and we poured in. Me and Gwen slammed the door shut behind us. Now we were locked in.

"Everyone get under the desks!" Rory and Sian commanded in a harsh whisper.

Instantly, we all dived under the desks with a thud.

"Did they see us come in?" Charlie asked, her voice shaking.

"I don't think so. Hopefully they haven't figured out how Emily got in here. But they weren't at the door when me and Gwen shut it…" I explained.

We listened, frightened as the groans and yells surrounded outside the reception area. I looked up at the clock in reception.

**3:51 PM.**

4 minutes that had passed since the plan went ahead, and it felt more like hours when those things burst from the English doors. We sat and we waited in silence, yet again.

"Well done, Em," Emily's friends told her. I looked over and smiled at her with an appreciative nod, and she returned it.

Suddenly, there was silence.


	4. Chapter 4

"What do we do now?" Carrie asked.

I didn't reply. Neither did anyone else. I hadn't thought this far ahead, and now I'd brought it on myself to have a one-step-ahead plan to please the others.

"How about we try the phones?" Rainey suggested optimistically.

Everyone immediately rushed over to the phones in reception, stabbing at the numbers frantically.

"Th-there's no answer at home…" Rina said, her voice shaking.

"None at mine either," Esmé added bluntly.

I looked around at the others, who also shook their heads in worry.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Emma from the other group yelled.

"We wait, and we DO NOT panic. Bad things happen when people panic, and it could end up nasty." I replied, managing to keep a cool tone of voice.

As we yet again sat around, an uneasy atmosphere filled the room. Hardly anyone spoke, and the aura of shock and disbelief still lingered. When I noticed that everyone wasn't looking to me to see if I had a plan, I too tried my home number quietly, not wanting to make a fuss. The continuous dial tone hit me harder than I thought it would. The longer I held the phone to my ear, the more scared I felt.

"Erin? Erin…?"

I snapped out of my moment, and saw Kyle pointing to the window that Emily came through.

"What?" I asked, a little bitterly.

"We should cover up this window with something," he suggested.

"Go ahead then," I replied coldly. The fact that he asked me before he went ahead and did something, and a long with all the questions I'd been getting from everyone, seemed that they saw me as some kind of initiator- or a leader? I was not looking to be a leader. I was just trying to make sure no-one turned into a psycho from the sudden disaster and fed us to those things out there.

As I walked away from the phone to sit by myself against the windows looking out to the fountain- and these windows were the ones where no-one could see inside- I heard some people talking about what they were going to use to cover up the windows, and going to help Kyle. Finally, they were beginning to work as a team and actually took a role in helping out our situation. I didn't feel like everyone was against me anymore. Gwen came and sat opposite me, followed by Jo and Charlie.

"Are you OK?" Gwen asked me, concerned.

"I'm just glad people are finally taking seriously the situation we're in." I replied.

"Yeah, they are, but no-one here is ever going to come to terms with it, including you," She said.

"I know…" I replied, looking out the window.

"Everyone's gonna be looking to you for our next course of action you know," Jo said, tilting her head towards the others.

"Everyone?" I said in denial. "I'm not sure everyone will be," I said, hinting at a small minority of people.

"Well Leigh, Cass and Connie have always been difficult. It's just the way they are, Erin. They're just scared. We all are." Charlie added, trying to make me feel better.

"Now, what are we gonna do about the food problem? Coz I have to say, all this cheating death stuff is making me hungry." Gwen said, changing the subject.

I smiled, as did Jo and Charlie. I got up to take a look at what Kyle was doing with the window. He had used sheets of printer paper to cover up the windows, with cellotape sticking them in place.

"That's a pretty good job," I said, trying to sound nice as possible.

"It'll do for now," He replied, eyeing up his work to make sure there was no gaping holes and all was tightly secured.

Moving away from him, I stood in front of everyone awkwardly, it felt odd- like I was a dictator of some kind.

"I've been thinking about what we are going to do about food."

All their faces listened intently.

"So we've got the kitchen across from us. I say, we collect an amount of food from there- as much as we need, and a group of us will go there to get it, while some of us hold the door open and the rest keep a lookout." I proposed my idea clearly.

"Wow, no objections?" I asked sarcastically.

"And what do we do when-" Cass began.

"I take it back," I mumbled under my breath.

"…When the food runs out? My guess is there's only a days worth of food in there- maybe not even that. And what do we do then?"

I stood there gathering my thoughts for a while, do they expect me to have another plan for every possible plan that goes wrong? I can't win with these people.

"Then we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. I don't wanna sound big headed, but my plan to get us here has worked so far hasn't it? So just trust me. I'm bound to eventually conjure up another. Thank God for me." I announced very sarcastically.

A couple of people sighed bitchily and rolled their eyes.

"Seriously, does anyone else have a better idea?" I asked coldly, fed up with their constant jibes when they hadn't ever come up with anything themselves. No-one replied, perhaps by the tone of my voice they could tell that I was ready to engage in a very awkward argument and they seemed to understand that this was not the time, and it would not make things any better.

"We should do it now, get it out of the way," Rory said, standing.

"OK, who wants to get the food?" I asked everyone.

"Maybe you should risk yourself this time, since it's your idea, or are you all talk and no action?" Esmé proposed bitchily.

"I couldn't care less if I'm the one to do it, Esmé, your being so fucking petty. But if you wanna play it that way, then maybe you should join me. Or are you _'all talk and no action' _?" I turned the tables on her. If she wants to fight dirty, I'll give her one.

"I'll help," Rainey volunteered, trying to veer from the argument.

"Yeah, me too," Rory agreed.

"OK, so me, Esmé, Rainey and Rory will get the food, the rest of you will HAVE to keep the door open, and the others must keep a VERY keen lookout. I'm not going out on a limb to prove myself just to fall dead at the end of it. I don't care who does what, just do it right."

As the four of us made our way to open the door, a crowd of others went to the windows, each of them lined up looking intently. Gwen, Jo, Charlie, Leigh, Rina and Kyle guarded the door. We opened it slowly, peeking around it quietly. My heart was in my mouth.

"Go," I whispered.

The four of us ran to the kitchen opposite, I looked back at the others, they firmly held the door open, so one of the worries was off my mind. As we entered the kitchen, the few chairs that were in there turned over and the room was eerily quiet. We raided the cupboards and the fridge, where we found a bunch of grapes, juice, milk, bread, yoghurts, chocolate bars, crisps and biscuits.

"Hey, may be a good idea to take this, just in case," Rory nodded towards the smallest first aid kit I had ever seen, perched on the table.

"Yeah, grab it." I said, juggling with the juice and yoghurts in my hands. We finished rummaging and quickly made our way to the kitchen door. I looked behind to make sure everyone was ready to go.

"Esmé?" I asked in a hoarse whisper. There was only me, Rainey and Rory at the door. Panicking, I went back inside to look for Esmé.

"You guys go back, I'll be there now- Oh, and don't shut the door." I told Rainey and Rory, emphasizing the last point.

"Esmé, this isn't fucking funny! Get the hell out here now!" I demanded in frustration, but still managing to keep my voice quiet.

I went further into the kitchen, and noticed a door was slightly open at the end.

"Oh this is just great." I said sarcastically.

I approached the door carefully, and kept looking behind to make sure nothing was going to sneakily jump out and… well, kill me.

I came right up close to the door, and reached out with my hand to push it open. All I had to defend myself with was a pot of yoghurts and juice, very Milla Jovovich.

"Esmé…?" I whispered again, gritting my teeth. I slowly poked my head in to get a better look.

**BAM.**

"Jesus Christ! Esmé you stupid shit!" I yelled, with my hand on my chest.

"I thought we'd better get extra toilet paper just in case. Nice of all of you to check I was with you." She replied, with no sign of an apology.

"What do you think I came back here for- didn't you hear me calling you?"

"Obviously not."

"Come on." I rolled my eyes.

We made our way back to the reception, our footsteps quickened until we had practically jumped upon everyone at the door.

"What did you guys find?" Sian asked eagerly.

We poured out our goods onto the reception tables in a jumble.

"We're not gonna last very long on fruit juice and biscuits…" Leigh said, deadening the mood.

"Oh, I'm so sorry we couldn't find any vegetables or cooked meat for you." I said sarcastically, grinning.

"The way I see it," I began, projecting my voice to everyone, "You can either eat this stuff, or risk getting killed at the canteen. If this isn't good enough for you, then we may aswell split- RIGHT NOW." I gave them my ultimatum.

No-one said anything.

"That's what I thought."

I went back to my seating place at the window, watching some of them stare at the food and talk amongst themselves. I looked up at the clock.

**4:28 PM.**

All the traumatic stuff we had gone through, from start to finish, had lasted just over 4 hours. It felt more like 10 minutes- which is what I'd usually want a school day to feel like. I felt myself nodding off, and closed my eyes without anymore thought.


	5. Chapter 5

The coldness of my breath curled with the air around me. I looked around, shivering. I was in a corridor, the longest one I had ever seen. It extended both ways, and got smaller the more I stared. Suddenly, footsteps could be heard all around me. They quickened and got louder, as if they were progressing towards me. Frightened, I staggered towards what seemed to be the end of the corridor, but it continued to get longer no matter how closer I got to it.

**BAM.**

The reception door appeared infront of me, out of nowhere. Confused, I went to open the door- I jumped back. There was blood on it. A drop fell to the floor in slow motion, making a loud splash on the floor, to where there was blood seeping from underneath the door. I pushed the door open, where no-one was to be seen.

**Tick tock. Tick tock.**

My attention diverted to the clock above me. The minute hand slowed as I looked more intensely at it. The sound of the ticking got louder with each movement. Narrowing my eyes in confusion, I saw blood out the corner of my eye. Along the walls was a smeared print of blood, which led to the tables, where it flowed down to the floor.

**Drip. Drip. **

It fell off the table, each drop becoming progressively larger than the last. I followed the blood trail on the carpet, where it turned round a corner and ended by the foot of a desk. Curious, I slowly merged closer to the ending of the trail. It was no longer silent in the room. My breathing quickened and hastened, but as I bent down to where the blood trail ended, I realized it was not _my_ breathing I could hear. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, my skin turned freezing. I crouched down so that I was level with the desk, and looked underneath it. In the corner of the desk, a person cowered, with their head turned away from me. I reached out my hand slowly towards the person, but something inside was telling me to back away.

**Bam.**

The person suddenly turned their head to face me, and to my horror, the person was… me? There was blood smeared on the chin, the pupils were dilated, the skin had become grey and rotting. Madness and insanity consumed the gaze. Then, the mouth opened and a blood curdling scream erupted from it.

**Flash.**

A quick flash of black light shone brightly and now I was stood up, and appeared to be back in the corridor again. But this time, there was blood pouring from my mouth, and I began choking. It clogged my throat, and I coughed and squirmed, unable to breathe. I grabbed my neck, squeezing my throat and my knees buckled to the floor. Then I heard the footsteps again, they were louder and quicker than before. Everything that had happened just now flashed through my mind in fast motion, and another scream erupted from nowhere, along with the running footsteps, my head shot up- my eyes had now become icy cold with dilated pupils.

"Erin!"

My eyes shot open, I had awoken in a sweat, panting heavily.

"…W-What is it?" I stammered, trying to regain my voice.

"We heard a noise," Gwen told me, worried.

"What kind of noise?" I asked, trying to recover from my nightmare.

"It sounded like…" Gwen trailed off.

"Sounded like what?" I repeated.

"It was someone screaming- from outside." Leigh said bluntly, her arms folded.

"No-one… No-one went to see, did they?" I enquired.

"Ofcourse none of us didn't! We're not that fucking stupid!" Connie shouted defensively.

"And you didn't see anyone outside of here, did you?" I asked.

"No-one." Leigh replied, shaking her head.

Just then, a desperate plea for help came from outside.

"Help! Someone… Help me!"

We stared around at each other in shock, each of us frightened to our very core.

"What do we do?" Rina asked, becoming hysterical.

"I say we help them- we can't just leave them out there!" Rainey voiced her opinion dramatically.

"Bullshit!" Yelled Leigh. "That person is shouting their ass off! If we can hear them, then so can… so can those things out there!"

She had a point.

"What if that was one of us? You'd just leave us out there to die?" Rainey questioned.

"It's called survival, Rainey." Leigh justified herself. Again, I couldn't help but agree more with Leigh.

"You're such a bitch." Rina insulted.

"Leigh has a point," I said. "If we heard them, then there's a 50/50 chance that those things did aswell. If we go out there, then that means there's also a 50/50 chance that we'll get killed." I continued.

"How can you say that, Erin? I thought you were all for helping everyone to be safe?" Rina backed up her friend.

"That's what I am trying to do." I finished, a tone of guilt slightly overpowering my confidence.

"And you can all live with yourselves for this? Leaving someone out there to die? Die horribly?" The frustration in Rainey's voice increased.

I didn't answer.

"Well let's vote. Who want's to save somebody's life? Or who wants to be heartless and just leave them there; and might aswell be called murderers themselves?" Rainey asked, taking charge.

"I want to help," Lisa spoke up, for once not being so quiet.

"Me too." Gwen agreed.

"What?" I looked at her in disbelief, shocked at her betrayal.

"I can't live with myself knowing that I ignored someone who cried for help to be saved," She justified, I rolled my eyes, not able to look at her.

"I'll go," Matt from the other group volunteered. His friends, including his girlfriend Romi, tried to reason with him quietly.

"I swear," Leigh began. "If you guys fuck this up, there'll be hell to pay." She warned.

"OK, so we're gonna need something to defend ourselves with," Rainey began.

"All we got in here is pencils and staplers…" Matt said, it was obvious he was beginning to doubt this idea.

"What about rulers? They're pretty sharp," Gwen suggested helpfully.

I moved away from the others, now planning they're 'rescue mission'. Leigh followed me, and sat beside me on the table.

"Thanks for backing me up," She praised.

"I'm just doing what I can to keep us all safe," I said.

"Well so am I," She claimed, offended. "I just know this plan isn't going to end good."

"I guess we'd better face it, they're all pretty adamant to go ahead with it."

"True." She replied, thinking.

There was silence between the both of us.

"Look, all I want you to know is that you got my back, OK?" She said loyally.

"I appreciate that," I replied, trying not to cross the line of being _too_ welcoming.

"So is everyone ready?" Rainey asked the group.

"They're probably dead by now, from the amount of time you spent coming up with a plan. Atleast Erin would have had one in mind just in case something like this happened," Cass announced, for once on my side.

Ignoring this, Rainey continued.

"Be on the lookout guys, and don't shut this door. All we're doing is going up the corridor, OK? And remember to check in the offices. Let's do this." She said, continuing the drama in her tone.

The others pulled the door open, standing guard. Me and Leigh stood by the windows, keeping a lookout. Rainey, Rina, Gwen, Matt and Lisa left reception, and started up the corridor. Me and Leigh now joined the others at the door, and made sure there were some still keeping a lookout. They carefully paced, taking small baby steps. They checked the first office on the right. Gwen looked back and shook her head: no luck. They continued to check the other couple of offices, with Gwen signalling that there was still no-one in them.

"H- Help me! S- Someone!" The voice pleaded again.

A few of us gulped in anticipation as the four of them realized where the noise was coming from. Lisa and Gwen went to check the doors at the other end of the corridor, making sure nothing was lurking round the corner as Rainey, Rina and Matt opened one of the office doors. Gwen and Lisa looked back round quickly to us, they placed a finger up to their lips telling us to be quiet.

"Shit." Leigh and I whispered simultaneously.

I could see Gwen and Lisa mouthing something to the others, telling them to Then, Matt and Rainey staggered out of the office with the injured person.

"Holy shit it's Mrs Robinson!" We said in shock as our head mistress was being helped out by our friends.

"Now we definitely should have left her out there," Charlie said jokingly, making a few of us laugh awkwardly.

They ran back quickly to reception, with Matt and Rainey hobbling along trying to carry Mrs Robinson (who was not the easiest person to carry if you get my drift). They fell into reception just at I spotted a couple of infected people burst through the doors at the end of the corridor, scoping out the open doors of the offices manically.

"Let go of the door!" I said in a harsh whisper to the others holding the door, as they did I caught it before it shut, then shut it gently.

"Everyone shut up and get down!" I demanded.

Immediately, we all dived under the desk, Matt and Rainey shoved Mrs Robinson into the bathroom and told her to shut the hell up. We waited patiently as the noises of the infected rummaged around in the offices and turned over tables. Smashing and thumping could be heard through the walls, aswell as desperate groans of some sort of addiction. We heard them pound through the doors leading to the corridor and run by reception. Everyone got a reasonable look at them now, it's like they were ravaging animals ready to pounce. At last, they went into the hall and didn't come back.

"Who would of thought it'd be the fucking head mistress we saved out of every possible person in the school?" Carrie asked cynically.

"Well done guys, really. We rescued a truly, truly valuable person for the rest of us. What is she gonna do? Suggest we write letters to the crazy people persuading them to leave us alone?" Tara from the other group exclaimed sarcastically.

"Pass me that juice over there, Sian," Rina asked politely.

"You guys should show some respect. She's been through a lot." She said protectively.

"Haven't we all…" Connie said, turning the other way.

Rina took the juice into the bathroom, where Jo also gave her the first aid kit.

"Aah!" Came a scream from the bathroom.

Rina rushed out, shutting the door behind her. She leaned against it with her hand on her chest, steadying her breathing.

"What's the matter?" Jo yelled, startled.

"She- she's been bit…" Rina explained, wearily.

"Well that'll finish the day perfectly," I said under my breath.


	6. Chapter 6

"You mean we just risked ourselves for nothing?" Matt shouted.

"Calm down guys, it's not gonna help getting all wound up- we have to think logically," Gwen said, trying to calm the mood.

"We're gonna have to think quickly, my guess is she's gonna change soon, but we don't know when. _Unfortunately _I don't have a plan this time, didn't think we'd been dealing with something like this so soon…" I explained, disappointed with myself.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Leigh reassured me. "Look, we gotta think of something fast, like Erin said, we don't know when she's gonna become infected. Everyone's gonna have to pull together on this one." She finished.

I checked the time.

**9:37 PM.**

"Can't we just… Let her go?" Carrie asked, trying to make herself useful.

"Do you really wanna take that chance?" I replied rhetorically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Becky from the other group asked.

"It means," Gwen began, "That she will know we're in here. If we dump her outside, chances are she'll guess we're in here. If we take her further, we could risk ourselves even more." She looked to me for approval, maybe this was her idea of an apology?

"Exactly," I smiled, acknowledging her explanation.

"I say we…" Cass began, trailing off. "Well, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?" She proposed awkwardly.

"A little more insight to your plan would be helpful," Connie said bitterly.

"Don't play dumb, Connie, you know exactly what she means," Leigh said, turning against her friend.

"We have to kill her." Sian announced, sure of herself.

A few gasps erupted around the room. I felt a few of the group shuffle uncomfortably.

"We're talking about murder here," Rainey said, coming over all self righteous again.

"Self-defence is more the vibe I'm getting," Jo claimed.

"That's right. It's either kill or be killed," I put it to them straight. "Right?"

There was a moment before anyone said anything. An uncomfortable tension filled the room. I swear, it was as if one of those things could burst through the room right now.

"I agree," Esmé said. "It's pretty clear what we have to do."

"We should do it," Rory agreed. "Kill, or be killed."

"How are we going to do it?" Charlie asked innocently.

"The quickest, most painless way possible," Lisa said.

"I don't mean to make fun of the situation folks, but slicing her open with a ruler doesn't seem like the most humane way," Cass proposed.

"Nope. But we have scissors." Carrie suggested, sounding pleased with herself.

"So, across the neck, or in the heart?" I asked.

"Shit. This is sick stuff. Discussing how to kill someone…" Sian said, repulsed.

"Has to be done. Personally, I'd say the neck. It's the quickest way… I think," Leigh suggested.

"I'd say the most humane way is straight through the heart… The one who does it has to be really strong… If we want it to penetrate deep enough," Jo explained, the biology student in her coming out.

"OK then. The heart it is. Now the question is… Who's gonna do it?" I asked, cringing. "Don't all volunteer at once…"

"Sorry Erin, risking ourselves to get her and the food was one thing, but this is something else." Rainey said, rubbing her forehead.

"Screw this. I'll do it myself." I said, putting myself forward.

"Erin- are you sure you can handle this?" Esmé asked, actually sounding

caring for once.

"I'm not gonna risk everyone getting killed including myself, this one is just too damn risky. If she turns now, we're all done for. She'll be going beserk, and others will hear her. It will be the death of us. It's for her own good…" I said, trying to sound strong.

"Hello…? My shoulder- it hurts…" Came the draining voice of Mrs Robinson in the bathroom.

"You'll need someone to hold her down, and cover her eyes, I'll help with that," Kyle put himself forward.

"I'll help too," Gwen agreed.

"Me too," Leigh said.

"And me," Rory said.

Just then, Jo handed us a cloth and a towel. "You'll need this for her eyes and this for her to bite down on," She said helpfully.

"Wait, just wait a second," Said Rina "How do we know for sure that she's gonna change? We don't know exactly what causes it," She claimed.

"Can't take that chance," Leigh said, with an all guns blazing kind of attitude.

Jo checked the bathroom, then shut the door again.

"Oh, she's definitely going to change. And soon. We gotta do this now." She warned.

"How do you know that?" Rina asked, not giving up.

"Her skin has gone pale, it's turning grey- and her eyes have become bloodshot." Jo explained.

"We're going in now." I announced.

Me, Gwen, Leigh, Rory and Kyle made our way into the bathroom with the largest pair of scissors we could find. We also brought in some rulers just in case she turned suddenly.

"What, what are you doing?" Mrs Robinson asked, scared. My stomach lurched. I felt disgusted with myself- This may be self defence, but I didn't think I could do it myself.

"It's OK Miss, we're just gonna take a look at your shoulder. We have a first aid kit here, it'd probably be best if you didn't see what we're gonna do in case it makes you more ill… and just in case it hurts, you can bite down on this," Leigh explained, the teacher's pet side coming out in her that every teacher is familiar with from her.

"Why? What is going to happen?" Mrs Robinson asked, getting restless.

"Just relax, OK? You're safe now," She reassured her.

As she said this, she tied the towel around her eyes, and rolled the cloth up into a ball, placing it in her mouth. Then Rory and Kyle held down her legs, whilst Gwen and Leigh held down her arms. I raised the scissors above my head, and took a few deep breaths.

"Do it now, Erin," Leigh demanded.

"Do what? Do what?" Mrs Robinson yelled, her words muffled from the cloth.

I plunged the scissors down, but stopped before it pierced her.

"Fuck!" I yelled.

I hesitated, and tried to psych myself up for a second attempt.

"If she isn't killed she'll kill us, you're doing nothing wrong," Rory tried to persuade me.

Pacing around the bathroom back and forth, I placed my hands against the wall, shaking.

"You can do this, Erin, you got this. Everyone is with you on this one," Gwen reassured me.

Mrs Robinson began to struggle within their grasp.

"You silly children! I demand that you let go of me this instant!" Came her protests.

"Can't do that I'm afraid, sorry Miss," Kyle informed her.

I raised the scissors for a second attempt, regaining my stance, focusing on what had to be done.

_We will all die if you don't do this Erin. Your conscience will never be clear if you let that happen. This is going to save everyone. _

"Erin, do it!" Leigh and Rory yelled.

"Oh for fuck sake!" The bathroom door shot open and Cass barged in. She grabbed the scissors from me and plunged them into Mrs Robinson's chest without a second thought.

"You stupid fuck you missed her heart!" Gwen yelled at her.

Mrs Robinson let out a piercing scream. It struck me hard, the sweat was now pouring off my forehead and my mind was buzzing.

"H- help m- me…" Mrs Robinson cried, blood now guzzling from her mouth, choking her words.

Panic consumed my brain, the voices in the room overlapped each other and fought to be heard. Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore, and snatched the scissors straight from Cass' hands, then plunged them into Mrs Robinson's heart, and once more. I left the scissors in her chest, and they moved with her chest as it took it's last breath. Everyone panted heavily, adrenaline consumed their breathing.

Gwen and Leigh placed Mrs Robinson's arms on the floor gently, and grabbed me just as my knees buckeled below me.

"Let's get her out of here," They said, their voices drowned out by my mind shutting down.

We left the bathroom, where a pool of eyes fixated on me, staring at the blood on my shirt and hands.

"What happened in there?" Emily asked Kyle, concerned.

"It was intense," He replied, wiping the sweat off his hands, and upon noticing the specs of blood on his shirt, ran to the bin and vomited.

"Cass, what'd you do?" Rainey asked, dumbfounded.

Cass ignored her as she leant her back against the bathroom door, and slid down it, sitting with her arms pulled up to her chest, with her head buried in them.

"Gwen…?" Jo asked, trying to get some information on what happened.

Gwen and Leigh sat me down on the chair by the window, where I rested my head against it, staring out with my blank eyes. My body was slumped on the chair uncomfortably, but I didn't care. I had frozen: my mind stopped working. It had shut down completely.


	7. Chapter 7

All I could do was look at the clock. It read:

**10:01 PM.**

I could hear Gwen, Leigh and Rory explaining the escapade in the bathroom. People winced and swore, hell if they found this difficult to listen too, then they definitely couldn't have handled it in there.

"Is she gonna be OK?" Charlie asked.

"Would you be OK with what you'd have had to do?" Esmé answered, her arms folded.

"Well I'm glad she did it. She's gained my respect, I couldn't have done it." Sian said; Lisa and- least expectedly- Connie, nodded their heads in agreement.

"We should do something about the body…" Jo suggested.

"Yeah… Didn't think about that…" Gwen replied, puzzled.

Everyone stared at the bathroom door, worried about seeing the horror behind it.

"Then we'll move it." I spoke up.

Everyone's attention diverted to my sudden voice.

"Erin? Are you OK?" Rainey asked, concerned.

I rose up from the chair, striding over to the others.

"I just had to kill the head mistress of the school in a pretty horrific manner. I'm peachy," I said.

Nervous laughter and shifty eyes looked upon me.

"I'm kidding."

Still, no-one could quite tell if I was being serious or not. Again, my sense of humor failed to catch on. I told you it was pretty sick.

"Anyway. We'll move it shortly. If we leave it here it will stench the place out. And worse, those things will smell it. If they smell it, they'll come looking for it, and if they come looking for it-"

"They'll find us." Cass said, interrupting. She was still sat against the bathroom door in the same position. Blood stained her hands.

"But where are we gonna dump her? We could be seen by those things, and chances are they're not gonna go for a dead corpse when they could beat the living shit out of a someone alive," Sian proposed.

"All we have to do is get rid of it, right? So why don't we just go to the entrance of the foyer, carry the body, and swing her outside as far as we can?" Gwen came up with, improvising her plan as she went along.

" '_Swing her'? _That's hilarious," Carrie exclaimed, chuckling.

"I'm serious!" Gwen protested. "The other body is out there, they haven't come back for that, have they? If they see it's dead then they're not gonna come in here are they?" She defended her point.

"Sounds logical to me," I backed her up.

"Let's go get her. Guys, by now you should know the drill. Only this time, we're gonna need more than 4 people risking themselves, Mrs Robinson ain't the smallest person as you've all noticed…" Leigh had developed a humorous tone.

**10:29 PM.**

As I glanced up at the clock, we were just about to leave reception. Me, Gwen, Leigh, Cass, Rainey, Charlie, Kyle, Rory, Matt, Carrie and Jo struggled lifting Mrs Robinson, she was practically on the floor even though there were 11 of us carrying her. The rest of the group held back at reception, a few held the door open whilst the others continued to keep a keen lookout. As we staggered past the main hall, we caught a glimpse of movement coming from the opposite side of the hall through the windows, but luckily it was moving in the other direction to where we would be shortly.

"Gotta move quicker guys," I told them.

We pulled Mrs Robinson's dead body further, my hands were beginning to lose their grasp. I held on with every last inch of my strength, to the point where my nails had pierced her skin. Alas, we had reached the continous opening and shutting doors of the foyer, all of us cringed as the doors made a squeak re-opening.

"1,2,3," We chanted, and with all our might, we tossed Mrs Robinson's dead, heavy body as far as we could. We all grunted shifting her weight, and swung our arms forward with emphasis. Then we heard a wretching sound, along with running footsteps, and immediately belted back for reception.

"Shit," We each said panting, bent over our knees with our arms resting on them for support, trying to catch our breath.

"Do you see anything?" Cass asked the others who were keeping a look out.

"There's one of them over there, kind of… inspecting her body…" Rina informed us, enticed by what was happening outside.

We joined them at the window, curious to see the infected's behaviour around Mr's Robinson's dead body. There was 3 of them now, and they kicked at her side, and one of them pulled her head up from the ground harshly, inspected it like a curious monkey, then dropped it back down again with a thud. Then they scampered off, forgetting all about the corpse.

"That was weird…" Lisa said, clearly freaked out by the incident.

"So they only attack things that are alive… Great. As if things couldn't go against any more…" Connie said with a tone of false hope.

The majority of us retreated to the chairs and floor of reception. I went to the bathroom to wash my hands, and upon seeing the blood on the walls and floor, rushed to the sink, resting my hands upon it to steady myself. I calmed myself down, and looked up to see my reflection in the mirror. I stared intently for a few seconds.

**Slam.**

I was startled by Cass coming into the bathroom, slamming open the door.

"You have a habit of barging in unexpectedly," I said, breaking my stare at the mirror.

"Yeah, about that, I was just trying to help. I could hear everything that was going on in there and knew you were struggling. I couldn't take it anymore, and I just flipped…" She explained.

"No wonder no-one bothers with you when you're angry," I said.

She smiled, understanding.

"I just wanted you to know that you're not the only one who feels guilty, it's how we're supposed to feel. If we didn't feel that, it would mean we're like… serial killers or something…"

"Thanks." I replied, accepting her apology. "It's important that we're all on the same level here, do you understand what I mean?" I questioned.

"Don't worry. I got your back." She said it with honesty, I knew she meant it.

We both washed our hands in the sink, the blood took a while to come off. But no matter how much it faded, in my eyes, it would always be there.


	8. Chapter 8

**11:12 PM.**

My eyes felt heavy as I kept watch at the window side. They longed to close and rest, but my mind refused to let them. I did not want to have a repeat of that dream again- and I feared it would be ten times worse after the events that recently passed. I looked over the room, most of the group were struggling to stay awake. They had the same problem as me, afraid that they might miss something and end up endangering themselves. They wriggled around trying to get comfortable on the rough carpet, sighing and tutting each time. I noticed a few would let their eyes fall, but their heads would suddenly jerk up once they realized.

"Can anyone not sleep, or is it just me?" Rainey asked, sitting up.

"Well not now," Leigh replied sarcastically, sitting up also.

"Let's think of reasons this could of happened!" Carrie suggested a little to eagerly.

"You worry me, Carrie," Esmé said, shaking her head.

"Could be some sort of pandemic, couldn't it?" Kyle pondered.

I listened as they sat and debated over the possible explanations. Listening to them all ponder and discuss this disease felt as if we were back in normal lessons having a class debate. It made things feel less frightening somehow, like there was some hope of it going away.

"I bet that girl infected us all," Esmé said rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I reckon it was you know. Although there were quite a few people who had felt unwell that day." Jo's words rested upon silence.

"…What do you mean? Others?" Rina asked, becoming unnerved by the revelation.

"I was talking with Carrie before I met you guys this morning, remember Caz'?" Jo tried to get some back up from our scatter brained friend.

"Yeah, I remember. Our science lesson was going to be cancelled, because Mr Powell was feeling ill, and there were some other teachers who were going home aswell." She explained clearly.

"So this spread because of a few teachers and a student?" Charlie retorted.

"No! The school was barely full, people have been coming down with the sickness since last week- wake up guys!" Connie said dramatically, in her cynical tone.

"Do you think, maybe, it could be airborn…?" Gwen asked, growing weary.

"I sure as hell hope not." Cass said, bringing the discussion to a close with a disheartened blow.

**2:02 AM.**

I tried to sleep, but that I failed. I'd drift in and out, waking to the nearest scuffle of movement or bird squwaking outside. I know I wasn't the only one like this. We could never be rid of this aura of tension, all of us reeked of it. What worried me is that we couldn't stay cooped up in here for much longer, our supplies would only last us a day or two.

If we were to hope of sitting this out we'd need to get to the canteen, and get some proper food to sustain us. But out of all the risks I'd taken with my plans so far, I don't know if I could do it again. I'd pulled off every plan by the skin of my teeth, this one would definitely be asking too much of everyone. My attention diverted to the other group whispering intently. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but obviously they were being very secretive about it. This couldn't be anything good or else they'd be saying it infront of everyone.

"You lot planning something?" I asked assertively, sitting up. This caused Connie and Jo to awake in curiosity.

"Is there a rule against talking?" Tara asked rhetorically, with a sullen tone.

"You choose to talk at a time where the rest of us are sleeping, in low voices and altogether sounding one hell of a lot suspiciously," I said back, walking over to the group and kneeling down to their level.

"Look," Tara said, turning to me head on. "Our groups never talked to each other before this, we just hung out in pathways the same as you, doesn't mean we owe each other anything, it was just a case of being in the same place when all of this went down," She said, acting superior.

"It's strange how you never chose to say any of this when me and my group were coming up with plans to get out of there, and not only that but pretty much saving YOUR asses as a whole," I retorted, making my point clear. There was a few moments of silence as Tara looked round at her group, unsure of what to do.

"Fine," She gave in. "We were discussing how to get out of here."

I squinted my eyes in disbelief, are these guys for real?

"Have you even considered the bigger picture here? Whose to say it isn't worse out there, we've been in here just shy of 12 hours and you're thinking about getting out of here?" I put it to them.

"Well are you expecting us to just wait this out? It could be days- even weeks before someone rescues us, or worse…" Tara replied, angst in her voice. This caused most of the others to wake up.

"I don't know how long it's going to take, but the risk out there is a far bigger one than in here, and right now that's our only shot at staying safe," I declared.

"Oh yeah? And what about starving to death, won't that be a threat in here?" Tara said venomously.

"This food isn't gonna last us another day, so yes, untill then we need some more supplies before we come up with how to get out- safely." I continued.

"Erin, you're talking about the canteen aren't you? You want us to go to the canteen? That's a bit more of a risk than across the hall to the kitchen you know," Connie said negatively. She always knows how to make things sound more worse than they already are.

"I'm aware that it's a bigger risk, but it's our only choice," I said regretfully.

"So there's gonna have to be a group of us, right?" Gwen asked, coming to my aid.

"Ofcourse, any volunteers…?" I asked unsurely, looking around at their faces. Gwen smiled at me.

"…Besides Gwen and I," I said, acknowledging her.

"I'll help, it's about time I made myself useful," Carrie said, relaxing her head against the wall.

I noticed Tara making eyes at Matt and Emma, urging them to volunteer. There was something about this I couldn't work out, it didn't seem like a gesture of helpfulness.

"Me and Emma will help, even though I've helped with other things…" Matt said begrudgingly, mumbling the last words. Emma looked away in frustration.

"So that's five, we're gonna need a couple more… Come on guys, we've done a lot to save ourselves already so a little courage shouldn't be too much to ask for," I said, trying to coax some of them in.

"Fine, I'll go, but only if Esmé comes too," Rina said, nudging her friend. Esmé scoffed.

"What? What do you want me for?" She asked.

"I don't know… You got food from the kitchen, you're experienced," Rina said, trying to make Esmé feel better.

"Alright," She sighed in defeat. "But only if I get to be a lookout."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes.

"I'll go too, I don't mind," Lisa said nervously.

"Thanks Lise'," I nodded to her.

"So, what's the plan?" Connie asked, urging me on.


	9. Chapter 9

**4:30 AM.**

Cass and Leigh held the door open as the 8 of us left reception, Gwen and I went first, checking the hall was clear by peering through the doors. It was hard to get a clear look as the windows were smeared with dried, grimy blood. Gritting our teeth, we opened to doors slowly as the grizzly sight before us met our eyes. Bodies were everywhere, their mangled corpses were crippled into positions that any live human could not replicate. Their faces were contorted into the terrifying screams they last shed, and dried blood filled the sockets their eyes once occupied. It was a sight no-one could forget. I closed my eyes in disgust, and opened them only when I had turned to face the others. I nodded and signalled for them to make their move. As they approached Gwen and I, I lowered my ruler.

"Be as quiet as you can, no matter what," I whispered.

Matt, Emma, Carrie, Lisa, Rina and Esmé made their way through the canteen with Gwen and I moving further from the doors, checking for any sudden movements. Esmé waited at the canteen doors, with her ruler held in close proximity, shaking like a leaf.

"Calm down," Gwen mouthed to Esmé, worried that she would drop the ruler at any second. Then she followed behind the others, taking her place by the other doors at the opposite side of the canteen.

The other 5 quickly began foraging for food, trying to remain as quiet as they could. Carrie and Lisa delved into the back where the food was kept whilst the others grabbed as many fruit, cereal bars, crisps and chocolate as they could. Carrie and Lisa paced their way carefully through the back, and came across the fridge where they grabbed some bread, cheese, carrot sticks, tomatoes, lettuce, and cans of cold spaghetti and beans. Matt and Emma whispered to them that they were done, and as Carrie and Lisa made their way towards them they heard a scuffle of some sort. All 5 of them froze, terrified. Esmé noticed and began backing away from the doors, quietly trying to make her way to the other side. One of the infected lunged at Carrie, with the sudden force overpowering her and knocking her to the floor.

"What was that?" I whispered to Gwen, my heart was beating so fast it felt like it was in my mouth, we were now patrolling the stage, checking corpses.

Another infected person had arose from the kitchen and sped toward Emma, and they scratched at her shoulder, she yelled out in agony, Matt tried to beat it off with his ruler, Lisa and Rina were trying to kick the other infected person off of Carrie, it snapped it's face around to face them both and let out a blood curdling growl, followed by an ear shattering screech, with that, more infected from outside ran towards the canteen, where Esmé should have been keeping lookout.

Gwen and I faced each other in terror, and we were struck with pure, engrossing fear. Our main priority was to get to the others in the canteen.

The infected were almost upon the others, Matt pulled Emma from under the infected person's grasp, as it bit into his arm. Carrie was being pounded into the ground like a rag doll as Lisa and Rina tried hopelessly to stop it. Matt was pulling Emma along and running at full speed out of the canteen. Gwen and I saw them hounding their way to the doors without the others.

"Where are the others?" I said in a hoarse whisper. They ignored me and before I knew it they had barged past Cass and Connie into reception.

"We need to help them!" Gwen said to me, her eyes widening. We jumped down from the stage and started towards the canteen. Lisa had now been pryed away from Carrie by the other infected person that was trying to kill Emma, and it cracked her head against the wall continuously. Rina backed away from the oncoming horde as they began to pound upon the glass windows which wouldn't hold much longer. The two infected people cornered her as Esmé was almost out of the canteen.

"Esmé! Help me!" Rina pleaded with her, yelling out. But Esmé turned away coldly from her friend, leaving her to die.

**BAM.**

"Esmé?" I yelled, confused, she jolted away knocking Gwen and I as she scampered off like a scared child. As I looked into the canteen, Rina was crawling away from the two infected people, who kept pulling her back, toying with her. There was atleast 9 or 10 that were pounding on the windows like rabid beasts who managed to break the glass as Gwen and I reached for Rina's hands. We couldn't pull them from her grasp, so I kicked one in the knee and it let out a menacing snarl, with fury filled eyes. Gwen grabbed one of the stools and smashed it over the other ones head, who's knees buckled from the impact, I grabbed Rina as quickly as I could and held her up with her arm over my shoulder.

"Erin!" Connie, Cass and Leigh had come to our aid.

"Get Rina out of here, she's injured!" I yelled to them, Connie and Leigh heaved Rina off the floor and bolted for reception. Cass, Gwen and I grabbed one of the heated food shelves and wheeled it with speed towards the two infected people, who were also running at us. The force of the impact nearly knocked us to the ground, causing Cass's arm to slip onto the heater.

"Shit!" She cursed.

We quickly regained ourselves and rammed the infected couple up against the windows where the others were trying to get in, and bashed it repeatedly. Then Connie and Leigh, along with Charlie and Jo charged in with scissors and rulers.

"The others have gone!" Jo yelled, exasperated.

"What?" Cass shouted, in pain.

"They took off whilst Connie and I were placing Rina down, Jo, Charlie and Rainey tried to hold them back but we couldn't stop them," Leigh explained extremely quickly. I didn't have the time to take all this in, it was too much. The snarls, growls and screeches of the infected horde were too close now, their arms were punching through the heated shelf. Without needing to communicate, all of us split up and grabbed the long tables and tried to barricade them against the windows, then we rammed the rest of the shelves against those. We ran back as fast as we could to reception, Charlie slipped onto one of the corpses in the main hall and instantly began screaming. I yanked her up by the arm, helping her to regain her posture. We could hear the infected pounding upon our not-so-strong barricade as we belted past Sian who was holding open the door for us, then she shut it immediately.

We fell onto the floor from exhaustion, each one of us panting excessively and sweating vigorously. I peered round at the room to see that the others had indeed gone. Those bastards. I bet that cow Tara planned this as soon as we had worked out how to get to the canteen. She'd manipulated every one of us as soon as I had caught them talking earlier. How could I have not seen it? My eyes came upon Rina, who was lying across the window cushions, struggling to breathe. Then I saw Esmé, huddled in the corner like a baby. I looked at Leigh beside me, she was also looking at Esmé, with loathing and bitterness in her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Rainey came from the bathroom with a damp cloth and went over to Rina. She knelt down and bathed Rina's forehead, who was breathing quickly.

Gwen pulled herself up and walked over to Rina, there was sadness in her eyes. I'd never seen Gwen upset before. She then turned to Esmé menacingly.

"You see what you've done? She's going to turn into one of those things because of you!" Gwen ran over to Esmé and began shaking her. I got up quick and tried to pull her back.

"Gwen, stop it," I said, trying to calm her down. She was pushing me back with one arm and clinging onto Esmé with the other, who was burrowing herself even closer into the corner.

"You know what she did- how can you be so placid about it?" She yelled at me.

"I'm anything but placid, Gwen. It's totally unforgivable what she did," I looked intently at Esmé when I said this. Gwen aggressively pulled her arm out of my grasp and walked away mumbling angrily to herself. But I didn't take my eyes from Esmé, who was cowering away. I crouched down to her level.

"I gotta admit Esmé, I always knew you could be a bitch but, really? Leaving your friend to die? That's-"

"Did you expect me to fight those things off on my own? Carrie was dead, Lisa was dead and Matt and Emma had left- or do they not matter now they've gone?" She snapped out of her self pitying and shouted at me venomously. It made me lose my balance from where I was crouching. Gwen came back over, determined to say her piece.

"You weren't alone though were you? Me and Erin were there, did you think we'd just leave you?" She spat. Leigh stood up.

"She was looking out for herself, just like she always does. Isn't that right Esmé? It's all 'me, me, me', with you. Friends are just a label right? You just use us so that you aren't alone, right?" Leigh mocked her in a childlike voice.

"Screw all of you!" Esmé leapt up. "You'd have done the same if you were in my position, don't pretend like you wouldn't- acting like you're all noble when you know damn well if you were where I was you'd do the same!"

"..Well we didn't did we?" I asked rhetorically, standing up, coming closer to her. "Me and Gwen went in there and helped our friend, YOUR friend- not only that, but Cass, Connie, Leigh and Charlie came to her aid too, and they didn't even know how bad it was in there! You can't go on like you weren't the only one there, because just as you decided to leave you bumped into Gwen and I, and still, you carried on running."

Everyone went silent. They were all judging Esmé, watching her reaction, studying her.

"It should be you lying there." Leigh said looking Esmé in the eyes, declaring her damning sentence. Esmé appeared somewhat hurt by this, she looked around at everyone else, trying to find someone who was on her side. She found no-one.

"So I'm the evil one here? For being scared? Are you kidding me? You're all hypocrites." She fought for herself.

"Esmé, you haven't even looked at Rina since she came in," Charlie said, disgusted. Esmé was dumbfounded. She had nothing to say.

"Have you even said you're sorry about what happened?" Jo asked, with disappointment in her voice.

"She'd be wasting her breath," Leigh added nastily. Esmé looked over at Rina, struggling. Her eyes welled up, and then she turned away and sat at one of the desks with her head resting on her hand. Our attention drew over to Rina instantly as she began choking.

"Guys, what- what do I do?" Rainey asked frantically, tears falling down her face. Rina had been scratched on her arms and legs, and a bite mark resonated above her collar bone. She was struggling to breathe, and the blood in her throat was seeping out of her wound and gurgling out of her mouth. Gwen knelt down beside her in desperation, holding her hand. Everyone came over to her side, standing by her. All of us were crying, the tears stung my cheeks with their relentless flow. Leigh was biting her thumb in impatience, her mascara had run down her cheeks. Cass had her hands behind her head, locking her fingers together and her eyes were shut. Connie cradled her knees with her head burrowed in them.

"Oh my God- I- Carrie, and- and Lisa!" Charlie said between sobs. "They're dead- I- I can't believe…" The rest of her words were inaudible as her cries consumed them. Rina tried to talk, but blood spluttered from her mouth.

"H-a-l-l…"

'Hall'. None of us understood her. Then she pushed herself up from the window unsteadily, and walked in the direction of the reception door.

"Rina? What are you doing? You're weak," Rainey said, following her. The rest of us were in shock, we were all fixated on her.

"D-y-i-n-g…"

Rina tried to pry open the door but her hand couldn't grip the handle. She started crying in determination. Sian looked up at her from where she was sat. She was next to the door, but she didn't help. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched Rina struggle, but she was frozen.

"I don't know what to do," She said, looking at me. I walked over to Rina, trying to pull her hand from door.

"Rina," I said, but she wasn't listening. She collapsed to her knees, but her hand was still hanging on to the door. She was crying uncontrollably. I knelt next to her, and brushed her hair from her face with my hand.

"Rina," I repeated with sorrow in my voice.

"P-l-e-a-s-e…" She looked at me with pleading eyes. She knew there was no hope, and she wanted to do this her way. I turned to the others.

"Guys…" I said. This time I had no plan. Who could? There was no way I could go through what happened with Mrs Robinson again. Not to one of my friends. I'd rather serve myself to those things right now. Leigh marched over and placed her hand on Rina's shoulder. She opened the door and helped her up. I watched as Leigh helped her walk to the hall. Then I followed behind them along with Connie, Jo and Charlie. Leigh opened the door for Rina to go in, and she made her way among the bodies. Gwen stood next to me, and held my hand, tears stains left marks on her face. Rina grew weaker with each step until she finally slumped down on the other side by the curtains, and curled up into a ball with her back to us.

**5:35 AM.**

I looked at the clock on the desk from where I was asleep. As I went to sit up I felt a sharp twinge in my neck where it had stiffened. Outside, the sun was rising and a warm glow peeked through the slits of the blinds over each of us. Gwen and Rainey were sat opposite each other on the window cushions were Rina had earlier laid. Both were awake, peering through the blinds. Cass seemed to be in a trance, sat against the bathroom door. Connie had laid her head on Cass's shoulder, asleep. Sian was sat by the reception door, with her legs curled up to her chest, it looked like she was having a bad dream. I went over to her and tapped her hand.

"Hey, hey," I said coaxing her out of her nightmare. She awoke suddenly, startled.

"I saw Carrie and Lisa, they were one of those things… They were trying to get in here… They pulled all of out the windows, and then they grabbed me-"

"It was just a dream, Sian," I said, trying to comfort her.

"But what if they're those things now? I-" She began stumbling over her words.

"They were dead… I saw them…" I trailed off, realizing that this was not helping. I spotted Leigh sat on one of the chairs, with her legs pressed up against the desk, pushing herself back and forth. She was staring intently at Esmé, who was asleep. She had a menacing look in her eyes, it made me uncomfortable to keep on looking.

"She didn't want to die like Mrs Robinson," Rainey said, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Do you think she did it to protect us?" Charlie asked, upset.

"Rina was always looking out for everyone but herself. So yeah, maybe she did. And she did just that right up until she died." Connie said cynically. Her eyes had shot open just as Charlie had asked the question, she wasn't asleep after all.

"I can't believe the others left us, didn't see that one coming," Cass changed the subject awkwardly.

"Well they did. And I say we do, too." I suggested, standing up. "I don't want to wait around until what happened to Rina, Carrie and Lisa happens to us."

"You're right. We need to get out of here." Cass agreed.

"And those things are going to break through the barricade, it's only a matter of when." Gwen added.

"Which is why we need to be gone before they do." I finished.


	11. Chapter 11

**6:45 AM.**

We stood guard by the door as an air of lingering tension surrounded us. This was undoubtedly the most dangerous plan- it involved us going out there with those things.

"Are you ready?" I looked at Sian, whose petrified eyes were enough to answer my question.

"You'll be fine, you're one of the best runners in the school," Jo tried to encourage her.

"She's the probably the only runner in the school," Cass said.

"Compared to those things?" Connie asked in disbelief.

"Connie, you're not helping," Rainey replied, gritting her teeth.

"Well, you're the best educated runner," Connie tried to soften her words. "Just run like them but combined with how you'd normally run…"

"You're her coach now?" Leigh asked sarcastically, allowing us to laugh a little which broke some of the tension.

"Good luck," Gwen placed her hand on Sian's shoulder. We all smiled at her as we opened the door of reception slowly.

Sian checked both ways before leaving reception, we gently closed the door behind her, because she wouldn't be coming back this time. We ran over to the windows, clambering over one another trying to get a look. Sian walked out of the building bravely, wincing as the automatic doors made a squeaky noise shut behind her. She walked till she stood in between our building and the English department. She placed her phone on the ground, the beating of her heart raced more with the next. She swallowed in anticipation and looked back at us, then nodded.

We looked over to Charlie, who had her finger on the call button of her mobile. She regretfully pressed it and closed her eyes. Our attention turned to Sian, whose mobile began ringing, loudly. She waited for any sign of movement from the doors opposite her.

"Come on you sons of bitches…" She said, using the fear inside her as a defence mechanism. For a second, nothing happened.

"Where are they?" Gwen asked to herself. I became full of self-doubt. An overwhelming sense of disappointment came over me. What if those things had moved? What were we supposed to do? They could be anywhere in this school.

"Wait," Gwen said, pulling herself closer to the window.

We spotted a slight scuffle of movement from behind the doors, Cass let out a quiet gasp. Sian squinted her eyes to get a better look, and then the noise of impending feet hit her ears. The doors burst open revealing a hoard of demonic looking humans, taking charge at her. Without a moment's hesitation, Sian darted off at an impressive speed, almost slipping over as the adrenalin kicked in. She ran around the corner, with the hoard following her like a growing shadow. We drew our looks away from the sight.

"Are they gone…?"

It had become an utterance of sheer fear than just a mere simple question. The whisper sent chills down my spine; it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I said nothing, either from the fear that if I replied there was nothing there, my eyes would deceive me and immediately my answer would change; or if I really wanted to believe that there was nothing there, and everything that happened in the previous hours was just a hellish nightmare. Of course, I would be wrong. But in any case, I continued to stare out upon the ghostly quiet sight, as the ticking of the clock rang louder with each second in my ears.

"Erin?"

The final ticking of the clock was the longest, loudest second of my life. CRASH.

"What the hell was that!" Cass asked in a panic stricken voice. I went to the window and peered through the blinds, nothing was there.

**BAM.**

A terrifying pair of red, angry eyes suddenly appeared before me. I jumped back instinctively from the fright.

"Shit!" I yelled, falling on my back. "They're out there! They fricking know we're in here!" I shouted, struggling to get the words out. I'd never felt fear like this in my life. I knew I was scared throughout this whole thing, but this was like thinking you've gotten rid of that wasp that's been creeping around your room only to find out that it's just stung you on the ass. My heart was in my mouth and my breath was fighting itself. My hands became clammy and I felt a panicky, tingling sensation through my legs.

"We're gonna have to just risk it and go!" Esmé shouted, shaking.

There were more crashes against the windows, more of them had come. I turned to Leigh.

"Are you ready to start your part in the plan earlier than expected?"

"I can do that," She replied, not really sure what she was agreeing to.

"Then you're meeting Sian now, we'll see you at the van, OK?" All I could do was show her that I had faith in her, no doubts what so ever.

Leigh yanked the door open, and as soon as she stepped into the corridor those things saw her. They bounded for her like an oncoming train and she sprinted down the opposite corridor, where we had found Mrs Robinson. I looked at the clock.

**6:50 AM.**

It had only been 5 minutes since Sian had stepped out of here. The rest of us could only hope that she had met up with Leigh and they had lost those things. Sian had come by the Art department and immediately she ran up the corridor, luring those things behind her. As she came out of the corridor she slammed the steel gates shut till they jarred, and without no letting up in her speed she ran back down and closed the gates the other side, and jarred them too. The adrenalin was pumping through her so violently that she swore she could taste a metallic flavour in her throat. Leigh wasn't as fast as Sian, but she had wits. She ran through the adjoining classrooms, weaving under tables and hopping over chairs. This slowed them down a little, allowing her a few seconds to stay ahead.

"You ready?" I said to the others, rhetorically. I opened the door of reception as quietly as possible, and then we all sprinted to the last white van in the car park. As Gwen pulled open the passenger door she yelled to me about something but I had already yanked the driver's door open without really looking at it and I felt a heaviness fall on to me. The driver was dead, and it looked like his throat had been ripped out. I moved to the side quickly so the body could slump to the floor. The others had gotten in the passenger side and moved to the back of the van. I spotted the glinting keys in the ignition, finally, some luck.

Leigh had finally come out of the adjoining classrooms and bolted the double doors shut behind her. Sure, there were other ways those things could get out, but they were after her and they'd try to come for her through those doors. She was now outside, and began pacing around for Sian.

"Where are you?" She asked herself, her tone now hopeless. Then she heard fierce running footsteps that sounded like it was going to be round the corner at any minute. At first she thought it was Sian, but as it got louder she realized that it was considerably a larger number of footsteps. She regretfully ran to the next department, which was a big hallway with large stairs at the back and was ambushed with pushed over lockers.

Sian had now made her way to where Leigh was. Suddenly, a hoard of the infected belted towards her from around the corner, she had no choice but to run towards them and hopefully make it to where Leigh was. Leigh was now on the stairs, waiting impatiently for Sian. She could hear the oncoming horde getting closer and she was close to tears. She ran up to the doors, slowly peering out to see for any sign of Sian. Suddenly Sian rammed into her, which made Leigh fall on her back.

"You made it," Sian said, out of breath. Just as Leigh got up, the horde pulled Sian back outside.

"No!" Leigh yelled. She tried to grab Sian's arm but she felt a searing pain rip through her own. She began running regretfully as Sian could no longer be seen. The hoard slowly began to sense that someone else was nearby. Leigh ran back through the corridor, pulling the sleeve of her cardigan over the gash in her arm. She had come out onto the steps above the car park, and signed with relief as she saw that the van was still there.

I saw Gwen do a double take at the side mirror.

"She made it!" She gasped in hope.

I looked at my side mirror, there was a figure running down the steps towards us. It was Leigh.

"I knew it," I said in appreciation. Then Gwen and I met each other's looks, which turned to sadness.

"Sian," We said simultaneously.

We heard a bang on the back door. Esmé opened it to see Leigh, who had a menacing look on her face.

"Leigh," Esmé said, not sounding as enthusiastic as Gwen and I. With that, Leigh grabbed Esmé's arm and yanked her out of the van with massive force. Charlie, Rainey and Jo gasped. Even Cass and Connie weren't sure how to react. I saw Gwen with a slight smirk on her face. I looked at the floor, unsure of what I felt. Then she jumped into the van.

"Now you're getting left behind," Leigh said, as Esmé lay on the ground with her arms holding her up. Then without any sign of remorse, Leigh slammed the doors shut.

"Good to see you," Gwen called over to her. Rainey was hugging her, and wiping her sweat and tear ridden face.

"Sian- they came from nowhere- they pulled her from me…" Leigh trailed off, becoming delirious.

"It's not your fault, you helped us get here," Cass said, showing her appreciation.

I turned the keys in the ignition, the engine started and then it collapsed.

"You are kidding me!" I yelled, slamming on the steering wheel. I regained my composure and tried again. Still nothing.

"Erin, we might want to start trying something else," Gwen said wearily, looking at the side mirror. I looked at mine, and there was an oncoming hoard of infected heading straight for us.


	12. Chapter 12

"Please," I whispered, resting my forehead on the steering wheel. I turned the key for the third time. The engine roared to life, and this time, it stayed on.

"Thank you," I whispered again, sitting up. I checked the mirror to see that hoard were indeed getting closer. I put the van in gear and pulled out of the parking space. I picked up the speed quickly, which made the rickety van bounce the others in the back a lot.

"We're losing them," Gwen said, relief in her voice.

I drove out of the car park, past the leisure centre and the rowing club.

"Where are we going now?" Connie asked, worried.

I kept looking at the road ahead. The quietness was spine tingling. As we came upon the roundabout we saw endless cars scattered along the sides of the road. There was blood trails along the pavements and across the walls.

"I'm sorry," Leigh said, her voice low. Her arm dropped in front of her lifelessly.

"What's wrong with her?" Cass asked, backing away from Leigh. Rainey pulled back the sleeve of Leigh's cardigan which revealed a deep bite wound. Blood seeped from it, and it started to look sceptic.

"Is she dead?" Gwen asked, her voice began to choke. I had now passed the local library, and thought of all the times Leigh dragged us there.

"I can't believe-" Rainey's words were cut short when Leigh bit a massive chunk of flesh from her neck.

"Christ!" Cass and Jo leapt over to Leigh and restrained her, pushing her shoulders to the floor.

"What the hell is going on guys?" I screeched, accelerating without realising. No-one from the back replied since there was too much going on. Charlie took off her cardigan and pressed it against Rainey's wound. She began choking on her blood.

"She bit her!" Gwen yelled, terrified. Then she went to the back to help the others. Leigh kicked her legs out and tried to break from Cass and Jo's grasp, her eyes were soulless and rabid. Then, Leigh turned viciously and bit a chunk from Jo's hand. Blood splattered over Cass and Connie, their shirts were now stained with Jo's blood. Gwen sat next to Charlie, pressing against her hand which was on Rainey's wound.

"Throw her out!" Gwen screamed to them. I heard Leigh snarling and thrashing as Cass opened the van doors and her and Connie thrust Leigh out. Then they immediately went over to Jo.

"You were bit?" Connie asked, but we all knew the answer.

I was still driving recklessly, my concentration obviously wasn't all there. As I passed an old block of flats round the corner my eyes came upon a sight of pure, hellish terror.

"Gwen," I said, stopping the van.

"Why have we stopped?" Cass asked, worried.

Gwen came up and got in the passenger seat. I nodded towards the sight. Gwen looked ahead, her eyes widened. My breathing began to shake and get heavy. I grasped the steering wheel even tighter, I could see where the prints of my fingers had been from the sweat. I breathed in and looked to the back. Charlie looked back at me helplessly, tears streaming down her face. Cass came to the front, placing her hand on my seat.

A further way down from us was a gigantic crowd of infected. They stood there, like they were waiting for us to make our move. Their crippled stances and disfigured limbs lined up awkwardly. The morning sun cast shadows through the gaps of the crowd, heightening their terror. Instinctively, I put the van into reverse and began reversing as fast as I could.

"Shit!" I yelled, as I saw in the side mirror another crowd of infected gathering a few yards behind us. Then, Rainey began to turn. I put the van into first.

"Do it." Cass said bravely.

I looked at Gwen, she nodded. As she blinked a tear fell down her face. I looked at Cass, tears rimmed her eyes. I looked back at the others, they nodded hopelessly.

"Fasten your seat belts," I said, pulling myself together. I launched the van into gear, picking up speed quickly. In to second. The van roared even more as I accelerated. In to third. Gwen was staring into the crowd with determined eyes 'Bring it'. In to fourth. It felt like we were skimming the road now. Flashes of the past day hurdled through my mind. Mrs Robinson. Carrie. Lisa. Rina. Sian. Esmé. Leigh…

In to fifth. The crowd were almost upon us, their faces inches away from ours. Tears were drowning my face, I heard Rainey let out a growl. I looked down at the digital clock:

**7:05 AM.**

I pressed my foot to the floor. The van was at 80MPH now. Their faces, so many faces were getting closer and closer. I shut my eyes.

**BAM.**

There was screaming, crashing. And then there was nothing.

**The End.**


End file.
